A Revelation

 

Tonight is not the best night to have insomnia, but it’s almost inevitable as neurons explode like fireworks in the tiny space of my cranium. It’s effortless to even think, like a result of our involuntary reflexes.

It’s 4:45am now and I just gave up sleeping after 3 agonising hours of tossing and turning, trying to find a best position to sleep in. In the process, I thought of some interesting things of which only 2 are prominent enough for me to remember.

1) If you think about it, we can liken our body to the Earth, in a sense that a raise in just a few degree Celsius would have a detrimental effect on both. Earth part was inspired by Discovery Channel and body part was inspired by a febrile patient.

2) I have been very puzzled every time my piano teacher made the same comment that I always rushed when I played my scales. So logically I always slowed down after that though I didn’t clearly understood what was wrong actually.

After mulling over it during my insomnia, I finally received a revelation of the meaning of “rush” and how different it is from “fast”.

Fast – Implies a predictable constancy of consistency.

Rush – Implies an reckless inconsistency of speed,  a metronome’s worst enemy.

So bottomline of that revelation, USE A METRONOME. Set it as fast as you want, but FOLLOW the tempo.

___________________

With just an hour left to sleep, the break of dawn is quite a scary thing. I have to reach the hospital by 7am and highlight of the day is to discharge an illegal immigrant. I hope I get to call the ICA, add some drama into my already _____ life.

I can’t find an appropriate word to fill that blank.

Have a rehearsal later at night too, it’s been too long since I last practised on the cello. It is beginning to seem distant and daunting. Why does it have to go lower down my priority list every time my life gets busier?

All the best to me, I only hope to survive Wednesday.

Surprises

Went back to work after 2 days off only to discover a new patient with an open fracture involved in a road traffic accident. The hair at the back of my thighs stood and I could feel my legs became slightly weaker, upon seeing long metal screws (external fixation) sticking out of his heavily bandaged leg.

I haven’t seen anything like that before, and worse, not mentally prepared to see one at 7am. We talked for a while and he told me his story. I realised most patients love talking, especially about themselves.

I felt darn accomplished yesterday to finally pluck up my courage to talk to this permanently angry patient, after 1 week. From what I observed, he was always scolding his caregiver and other nurses. Thankfully our little talk went well, as in he didn’t get angry haha. I haven’t seen a slightest smile from him until now, and my aim is to make him smile hahaha.

Personally, I need to talk to my patients and create some kind of relationship. It’s just not fitting for me to nurse a stranger, if you know what I mean. Especially since I’m still a student, I don’t want my patients to feel that they are objects of my experiments. As crude as that sounds.

It’s disturbing for me to see students surrounding a patient to observe a procedure, without the consent of the patient. It’s not a show nor an exhibition. 2 is fine, >3’s a crowd. That being said, patients’ dignity is a big concern for me and I can get anal about it.

I think all patients should know the rights they are entitled to. One of which is to disallow nursing students to attend to you. Haha. But I’m uncertain if patients really have the right to choose the kind of treatments and interventions they receive. I mean, of course, this is a democratic country so on black and white, they can. But why are my patients complaining to me that despite voicing out a preference, healthcare professionals still insisted on their way?

Sometimes, I think we know our own body best and healthcare pro. should take heed of patients’ requests and not dismiss them so easily. Sometimes.

_______________________

On a lighter note, my music theory result was out today and I got a distinction. Yayyyy! I think it’s a miracle considering how I couldn’t find my exam venue thus was late and darn frustrated, and how the paper was quite different from the past-year papers I did… And I remember erasing a lot of my answers upon checking at the last 30 minutes. I blogged about it previously, describing it as my most agonising paper.

Preparing for my September piano practical exam now… I hope what happened last year won’t happen again this time.

________________________

Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think.
- Ephesians 3:20

 

A Glimpse Into Nursing Life

And so I’ve been posted to a 6-bedded male cubicle in a neuro-surgical ward. “Neuro” suggests brain disorders/injuries and surgical suggests pre/post operation patients.

It was my first time taking care of male patients so I had a little culture shock, otherwise, I’ve adapted well since it’s a pretty familiar environment.

There are a few cases which I haven’t heard of before. Like having a ventricular-peritoneal shunt inserted to drain excess CSF continuously produced in the brain, into the abdominal area. And insertion of atrial-ventricular fibrillation in the right upper trunk of the body for kidney dialysis, due to excessive use of both hands for the past decade of dialysis.

That patient was recently transferred to our ward to recuperate from operation. He had very bad appetite and only managed to eat 2 spoonfuls of rice that night. While eating, he asked for a plastic bag as he was feeling nauseous, and actually vomited.

Flashback of previous experience played in my mind, where a renal patient asked me for a plastic bag for the same reason, only to pass on shortly after I gave her.

Anyway, it was such a relief when I found out that he could manage to eat a full meal the next day and was no longer feeling nauseous. =) I could see that he looked healthier too. That was a big improvement.

________________

Last morning while attending to this patient whom I’ve grown to know a lot better, he started sharing about how much trouble he’s causing his wife and daughter now that he’s hospitalised. What I didn’t expect was, he started to cry too.

It was only the beginning of my shift at 7+ and I was trying hard to contain my tears which thankfully I managed to.  It was also my first time being with a crying man and all I could do was to lend a listening ear. Sometimes there is little need for words.

I’ve seen how his wife would come after work every day at about 4pm to visit him and how she would stay till about 9pm with him. It is heartwarming to see how the couple still hold true to the vow they made decades ago when they decided to cleave only to each other, till death do them part.

________________

It’s been a good 4 days in the ward, 31 more days to go hahaaa…

 

From A Student To A Nurse

 

3 more days to attachment @ NUH. I’m rather looking forward to it actually, it’s the highlight of every semester for me, though I don’t deny that 7 weeks of being a nurse seems slightly daunting.

Would I be able to handle it?

I’ll be posted to an orthopedic ward for 5 weeks, operating theatre  and CDC (near TTSH) for 1 week each. It’d be by far the most challenging attachment in terms of length of time and kind of specialty.

For someone who cringes at the very mention or sight of any bone-related stuff (including dental procedures =/), it’d take a lot out of me I guess. Nonetheless, I must still act professionally and be the best nurse I know how.

I just hope there will be no open fracture cases or deformed limbs or body parts due to broken bones. =/ This would definitely be my first and last time being in an orthopedic ward, and it’s really fine for me not to ever see those cases.

On the other hand, I’m anticipating being in an operating theatre, it’s almost my childhood fantasy. Yay and it’s coming to past soon =) I’m uncertain what kind of operations there’ll be and am hoping there’s nothing to do with the eyes or brain. 0.0 Strangely, I think I’m fine with amputations, in fact, I’m really curious to witness it live.

They say an OT is like a carpenter’s room, with many intimidating equipment and saws. Sometimes even with the smell of barbequed pork? Due to the burning of flesh. o.o Really looking forward to see (or smell ewww.) it for myself and I feel privileged to be able to do so! =) Though, of course, we’ve all heard very bad stories about surgeons and their mannerism.

Communicable Disease Centre (CDC) is quite boring I heard. It’s mainly patient education and much therapeutic communication for people with infectious diseases such as HIV/AIDS and god-knows-what. I’m hoping time flies there, but doubting it will. The thought of travelling all the way to TTSH is a big put off.

My attachment schedule is really bad, it’s like everything I don’t want it to be. Out of 7 Sundays, I have to work on 5 of them and am spared the other 2 only because everyone else is. Thankfully my church has Saturday services, of which I might also not be able to attend to if I have afternoon shifts.

On top of that, I have a performance at the end of the month and looking at my schedule I can only go for about 1 or 2 more rehearsals. I definitely need to swap my shifts or something… It’s such a dreadful hassle.

____________________

My head seems lighter and more spacious now, good time to sleep!

Post Exams!

 

=))))

And so our Year 2 academic studies had come to an end, and we are now trying to utilise our pathetic 1 week of holiday before our 7-week attachment commences next week. Quite a sentence-full hehe.

At midnight while studying for Microbiology, protozoa, worms and all, my bestie text me to go Malaysia after my paper! This is how random we can get! I was so exhilarated (+ the effect of caffeine), I couldn’t sleep the entire night. Literally. Gushes of thoughts flooded my mind, rendering it a malfunctioned, overworked robot.

                           

And so I had the rare chance to witness a gorgeous sunRISE, which totally fascinated me. =)) The last time I did that at home was during my JC days… When school started at 7.30am. Ridiculous timing!

Rushed off after my paper to meet bestie to go Malaysia lol. I still find it amusing.

                               

Enjoying our Mango Ice Kimo, really nice eh. =))

We stayed in City Square mall for about 6 hours and returned at about 11pm. I realised many things could have happened, looking at how high the crime rate is and how they take daylight robbery literally. The transition at the custom felt really dangerous, we were so on our guards. Otherwise all was fine.

Upon reaching Singapore, we realised that both of us were actually uncontactable while in Malaysia. We had no autoroaming!!! We could have been kidnapped (my mum’s concern) and nobody’s ever gonna find us.

“Living life on the edge” perfectly describes that night. It probably was a moment of folly, carelessness and irrationality. Then again, Murphy’s law applies no matter where you are and what you do.

Thank God for protection and for watching over us! =)))

__________________

The next day…

Tuesday @ East Coast Park with bestie (again…), Olive, Imran and Jay the nurses!

We needed to shed away fats accumulated during exam period due to our super sedentary lifestyle and inactivity.

                              

Some things never change, we loved rollerblading @ ECP during secondary school days, and still do! =) Though much lesser now, like once a year? Or less? Lol…

                          

Olive with both our slippers as butt cushion! Waha. We headed off not knowing where to go and then Imran came up with a brilliant idea to go Marina Bay’s Helix Bridge! 0.0 Extremely cool!

                    

Silhouette of Jay as we rested under a bride somewhere near the Singapore Indoor Stadium. 

                    

YES!!! Finally arrived at our destination after about 2.5 hours. It was all worth it! =))) It was my first time there so I was very fascinated with everything, like an awakening of some sleeping senses.

The quite realistic DNA structure reminded me of  “Genes and Society” module I took in Year 1. NUS has seriously taken a hold of me. Waha.

                           

                            

For those who don’t know, the letters on the floor actually has significance to the structure!

C = Cytosine which has 3 Hydrogen-bonds with G (Guanine) &
A = Adenine which has 2 H-bonds with T (Thymine)
They are all nucleotides of a DNA and the H-bonds are what keep the 2 strands of DNA together.

Of course my first thought when I saw “A” and “T” wasn’t that but a nicer name. Hahaha. Otherwise I won’t be so fascinated as to taking a picture with some nucleotides. =P

                          

Bad angle of the Singapore Flyer. =/ Took it as I whee-ed past haha.

We were so tired, we took a cab back to East Coast. FAILED. Lol. The boys cycled back though. Only because a cab can’t fit in 2 bikes =Pp

                 \

Finally resting for good! Tiredness was written all over our faces. It only proved how much more we needed to exercise!

                

A little glimpse of sunset to end off the day. =)

________________

Bro got his driving license yesterday on his FIRST attempt! =) And so he drove us around tonight under the close guidance of my dad. But dad had to come down and help him with parallel parking hahaha. I’m happy just being driven around, it’s too much of a hassle!

We went for a joyride down ECP highway and past the Helix bridge again! Obviously it was my suggestion haha cos I wanna look at the lights on the bridge at night =Pp.

Again, my life was put at risk in the hands of a new driver!

These 2 days have been extremely life-threatening. Hahaha. Talk about post-exams celebration! Lol.

_________________

Rest of the week will be more toned-down, as I devote my time to my much neglected instruments. Much to catch up and improve.

And then I’ll be robbed of my life again, for 7 weeks.

Till then…